12.19.2010

Have to admit .. I haven't actually seen Justine yet! It's one of the ones I'm really looking forward to watching (co-starring Anna Karina! yay!) though. I've just been trying to save some of his films and not watch them all at once. Nevertheless, I couldn't pass on these photos when I saw them on ebay! They're fantastic!

I'll be adding them to the photograph section next week -- until then, if you'd like to download the large scan, just click on the photo and it should open in a new window :)

12.16.2010

I made a new video tribute today... actually, I made it this month. It's taken me forever to prepare, since I had to rip all of Dirk Bogarde's movies to my hard drive. Yup, this one includes EVERY one of his movies, and in chronological order, no less! The only exceptions are Blackmailed, Upon This Rock & We Joined the Navy since they're being stubbornly elusive.

The video is set to "As Time Goes By" sung by Bryan Ferry. It starts with Dirk Bogarde's first starring role in Esther Waters (1948) and ends with his last performance in Daddy Nostalgia (1990). Here is the full list of films, in order:

Esther Waters (1948), Quartet (1948), Once a Jolly Swagman (1949), Dear Mr. Prohack (1949), Boys in Brown (1950), The Blue Lamp (1950), So long at the Fair (1950), The Woman in Question (1950), Hunted (1952), Penny Princess (1952), The Gentle Gunman (1952), Desperate Moment (1953), Appointment in London (1953), They Who Dare (1954), Doctor in the House (1954), The Sleeping Tiger (1954), For Better For Worse (1954), The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), Simba (1955), Doctor at Sea (1955), Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), The Spanish Gardener (1956), Ill Met By Moonlight (1957), Doctor at Large (1957), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), A Tale of Two Cities (1958), The Wind Cannot Read (1958), The Doctor's Dilemma (1958), Libel (1959), The Angel Wore Red (1960), Song Without End (1960), The Singer Not the Song (1961), Victim (1961), HMS Defiant (1962), The Password is Courage (1962), The Mind Benders (1963), I Could Go On Singing (1963), Doctor in Distress (1963), The Servant (1963), Hot Enough for June (1964), King and Country (1964), The High Bright Sun (1964), Little Moon of Alban (1964), Darling (1965), Modesty Blaise (1966), Blithe Spirit (1966), Accident (1967), Our Mother's House (1967), Sebastian (1968), The Fixer (1968), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Justine (1969), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971), Night Flight From Moscow (1973), The Night Porter (1974), Permission to Kill (1975), Providence (1977), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Despair (1978), May We Borrow Your Husband? (1986), The Vision (1988), Daddy Nostalgia (1990)

Later this week I'm planning on screen-capping the video and captioning the photos with which film they came from, so that if a specific clip looks intriguing you'll know which movie to watch :)

12.14.2010

Three early Dirk Bogarde movies are finally being released on DVD in January! They're being released in the UK, so they're in PAL format but most computers can play region 2 discs with VLC player, and multi-region DVD players can read them as well.

The lucky movies are Once a Jolly Swagman, Esther Waters and The Spanish Gardener. Hopefully the fact that the powers-that-be are finally releasing some early DB Rank films is a sign that Blackmailed (a movie that doesn't seem to be available anywhere, and I mean anywhere) will finally see the light of day!

12.11.2010

I try really hard to keep the gushing here to a minimum, and to keep the blog more proper than "omg I love him!!" fangirly. But, my goodness, do you see these screen shots?! It's hard to keep your composure whilst looking at them, let alone write a post that's any more formal than "drooling......"

I took a LOT of shots, and these 12 are my favorite. You can see the rest here.

12.09.2010

Sorry for the obnoxious gif, but I had to make one when I saw this scene. It's just so perfect!

I was a very bad Dirk Bogarde fan when I watched this film. I was quite tired and I only vaguely understood the plot (not that it was that complicated, I was just that tired) but from what I understand, this is how it went -- Dirk Bogarde plays a flight officer who has already flown more missions than most people do in their entire careers. He's working towards 90 bombing missions, even if everyone thinks that it's pushing his luck to even do 88 or 89.

I have a very hard time watching war movies.. I can't help myself! All of the talk about missions and bombing raids and radar went flying through my left ear and soaring out the right. Like most post-war British war films, however, it did have several really heartfelt, saddening scenes that emphasized what war does to the women on the homefront. One pilot was sending coded messages to his wife so that Dirk Bogarde (who didn't approve of his officers having their minds on their women, so preferred that they either didn't have women at home or didn't communicate with them) wouldn't find him out. Bogarde's love interest in the film, played by Dinah Sheridan, is a war widow who is still referred to throughout the movie as "Mrs." Those moments were poignant and deeply sad.

It puzzles me why Dirk Bogarde was cast in so many war films at the peak of his popularity with young girls. Why screaming bobbysoxers would be interested in violent movies seemingly aimed at male audiences eludes me, but I guess I'm living proof that if he was in it, the adoring fans would watch it.

For some insane reason, I was laboring under the delusion that he was an American actor from the 1950's specializing in B-Crime movies. You know the ones, where the actors are exceedingly sweaty and wear shoulder pads that double the width of their frame. Imagine my surprise when I turned on TCM one day and found that Dirk Bogarde was actually a dashing, debonair, talented Brit.

This blog chronicles my discovery of Dirk Bogarde as I plow my way through his filmography, books, artwork and recordings. He has quickly become my favorite actor, and I have a feeling that I'll be discovering Dirk Bogarde for many years to come.